Have you Harnessed the Power of Story Telling for MSP Marketing?

Most MSPs admit to having a difficult time with marketing their IT business. While it can be extremely tough for techs to learn new sales techniques, there is one powerful selling tool that should be easy for the average IT provider to adopt and master!
The marketing tool that I am referring to is that of telling stories and I will show how this can help you connect with your prospects, gain their trust and create a memorable impression that last.

Anecdotes Don’t Count

Of course, some readers will have the initial reaction that anybody can tell a story and there isn’t any need for me to provide instructions on ‘how’ to tell a story. I will admit that just about anybody even an MSP can relate an anecdote, a short and amusing story about a real event. However, this is not the type of storytelling that I am talking about. I am talking about telling your story or the story that explains why you started your IT company.

An effective MSP marketing story for our discussion is a description of the real events that surrounded your decision to start your MSP business. One of the key elements in a marketing story is that it should have a V shape. This means that you begin telling a story when everything is fine then something dramatic happens and you hit rock bottom and then discover the why! The story should end with you coming out of the bottom of the V shape and gaining the knowledge of why you want to start your venture.

You can Connect on a Deeper Level

To master the art of telling your story it’s critical that you learn how to be descriptive and give vivid details that evokes emotion and creates word images. There is research that indicates that people operate on a different level when they hear an effective telling of another person ‘story’ that expounds emotionally on the why! This research suggest that the listener allows the story teller to enter their minds and carry them on an emotional and visual journey.

Another reason that telling these type of stories helps you connect on a deeper level besides just taking them on a visual journey, because V shaped stories reveal the negative circumstances of the speaker. Any time a Speaker can ‘get real’ with their audience and show their weakness it allows the audience to see that they have something in common. In other words, a theoretical audience member might say, “Oh I see this speaker doesn’t live in an Ivory Tower but has had some of the same struggles and hardships that I had.

V Shaped Stories are Sticky

One of the amazing collateral effects of telling your story in an MSP marketing presentation or while speaking at an event is that V shaped stories will resonate with prospects long after your talk ends. Most of the people that approach me after my talks always seem to ask questions about ‘my story’. These experiences help me understand that in fact it was ‘my story’ that was the most powerful element in my speech. The last time I checked MSPs want their prospects to remember and keep thinking about their marketing message long after they leave.

Fin

If you want to give an unforgettable ‘sticky’ MSP marketing presentation that stirs your prospects emotionally, allows you to connect, and can be remembered long after your sales meeting ends, then you need to master telling your story. Once again this will be a story about why you started your IT company or why you choose to become a salesperson in the IT industry. However, this is where the process can get stuck in quagmire because its painful for most people to call to mind ‘why’. You will struggle to remember the emotional V shaped events that triggered your ‘why’!

Have you Harnessed the Power of Story Telling for MSP Marketing? was last modified: July 11th, 2017 by David Walter

David Walter is the Marketing Director at MSP SEO Factory, a company providing IT marketing to businesses in the United States. Their expertise is creating MSP marketing ideas and turning them into original, optimized blog posts. Their process involves in-depth brainstorming, thorough editing, and effective promotion of fresh and unique articles for their MSP Business clients.
He has 16 years experience in marketing for the IT industry, as well as experience in direct MSP marketing, internet marketing, article writing. David speaks at trade shows, webinars and is a sales trainer for major IT companies. He is also a published author; his latest book is 'Stratospheric Marketing Secrets'.